Why is Surge Protection so Important?

While shopping around for electronics and electronic accessories, you’ve
probably seen the benefit “surge protection” touted. Generally,
this has to do with power strips or wall outlet addendum, and it’s
a feature that many people just assume is standard on most things. Unfortunately,
this assumption is wrong and assuming you’re protected from surges
can be a costly assumption to make!

What is a surge?

First things first: what is a surge? Simply put, it’s an influx of
electricity in electrical wiring in Comal County, TX that’s higher
than the allotted load level. Surges can happen for a number of reasons,
however the effects are going to be the same: a surge will damage your
wiring and whatever is plugged into your outlet if it’s not dealt
with accordingly!

How do you stop a surge?

Surge protection is a very simple, very effective concept: detect and divert
excess electricity away from the outlet and into a ground, where it can
be dispersed accordingly. This is where the unique “surge protection”
feature in electronics comes through—they’re designed to divert
excess load to the ground wire of the outlet. Because excess power is
being diverted instead of internalized, the damage that would have otherwise
been done to electrical wiring in Comal County, TX is instead resolved!

Does X item have surge protection built in?

One of the most common questions that people have when it comes to surge
protection is “how do I know if it’s really protected against
a surge?” This is a legitimate question and one that can quickly
be answered by looking for a few unique features:

Is there a ground plug for the outlet? If your regular two-pronged plug
also has a third grounding plug, it’s a good sign that it’s
set up to protect against a surge.

Is there a surge indicator? Many power strips will have a light that indicates
when excess load has been detected and diverted. Having a signal feature
means your item is properly grounded and surge protected.

Look for a UL rating. UL ratings signify the safety of electronic devices
and those that have surge protection tend to be rated much higher than
similar products that don’t.

Keeping on the lookout for features like those listed above is going to
ensure you make an investment in a product that’s ready to stand
up to surges if and when they occur.

What items need surge protection?

In theory, anything that draws power from your home’s outlets should
be protected against a surge! But, it’s not always possible or practical
to make sure you have surge protectors lined up at every outlet. Instead,
its best to make sure you’re plugging high value, intricate electronics
into surge protected outlets:

Computers absolutely need surge protection. Even a minor surge can disrupt
microprocessors and other electronic components, leaving you with permanent damage.

Phone chargers need to be surge protected for much the same reason as computers—a
small surge can scramble your phone quite easily.

Televisions and gaming systems are generally surge protected already, but
if they’re not, make sure they are when you plug them in to a wall socket!

Even if you think your electronics are protected or you’ve never
had a problem with surges in the past, it’s important not to take
chances and to make sure that you’re protecting everything you can
against surges and the damages to electrical wiring in Comal County, TX
that can come with them.